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Gentiles can be God’s people too!

The accounts say Jesus travelled to a house in a country north of Galilee known as Tyre (modern day Lebanon). Although he didn't want anyone to know he was there, he was approached by a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit.

By this time, Jesus had gained quite a reputation as a healer, so perhaps it's not that surprising that the woman tried to seek him out. But she was unlike any other woman Jesus had previously met. The account says that she was a Syro-Phoenician, a term which means very little to us today, but one that would have had a great deal of meaning for both Jesus and disciples.

They knew that she wasn't Jewish, and as such she was considered an outsider, not one of God's chosen people. And to grant such a woman's request would be scandalous. ["Rabbi...cast out the demon from my daughter."] Jesus' response was at best enigmatic, at worst it seems downright insulting. ["Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take their bread and throw it to the dogs."] It's not something you hear mentioned often in Sunday school, Jesus referring to a woman with a sick child as a dog. It's certainly not something that's casts him in a positive light.

But what did his words actually mean? Well 'dog' was the standard first century Jewish insult against the unclean Gentiles. And although it might shock us today, it certainly wouldn't have alarmed the disciples. What he said was exactly what they believed; he was refusing to heal the woman's daughter because she was a non-Jew, a 'dog'. he also believed that the bread of his mission was for the Jews alone, the true children of God.

"Master, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

The woman so impressed him with her answer, that he was moved to do something that horrified the disciples. He healed her daughter.

"For saying this you may go; the demon has left your daughter. You may go. Go!"

Healing a non-Jew was simply unheard of in the Jewish faith.

From the way it's written in the Gospels, it's as though Jesus himself is surprised by his own actions. It's rarely he's presented as a man unsure of himself. In fact, it's the only time he's said to have changed his mind.

The woman had shown faith Jesus had rarely seen, even amongst the Jews. By healing her daughter, he'd not only gone against the conventional wisdom, he was also challenging centuries of Jewish teaching.

Ancient prophesies predicted only in the last days would the Gentiles begin to believe in the Jewish God. And even then they wouldn't come to worship him on their own, it would only happen through the example of the Jews.

But the extraordinary faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman made Jesus change his mind. In healing her daughter he was making a highly controversial statement. But, he was also learning more about himself and his role.

To heal a Gentile was to suggest they were as good as the Jews. That they too were worthy of being amongst God’s chosen people. Only God himself could define who was and wasn't chosen. Now Jesus was making that decision. Once again he seems to have discovered in himself an authority to act that could only have come from God.

Miracles of Jesus

Part 2   Signs of Divinity?  8

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